Picker stick



June 0, 1952 D. NORRIS, SR

PICKER STICK Filed March 15, 1951 m m m m BY DAV/D 1.. NOR/Pia, .59.

ATTOENEVS Patented June 10, 1952 PICKER STICK David L. Norris, Sr., Greenville, S. 0., assignor to rporation of South Caro- Norris Brothers, a co lina Application March 13, 1951, Serial No. 215,287 I Claims. (01. 139157) This invention relates to picker sticks for looms and particularly to reinforced wooden picker sticks adapted for use with floating pickers, such as the drop box type pickers.

Conventional wooden picker sticks are generally short-lived, the average life of such a stick being only a matter of days. Failure may occur by splitting at the stud hole or breakage in the body of the stick when the stick is subjected to an unusual strain, such as may occur when the shuttle temporarily jams. However, a very common point of failure is the picker-bearin upper end, where splitting may be initiated by breaking or cutting into the body of the stick. This type of failure is particularly characteristic in theuse of floating pickers, which are supported on a guide rod and which are provided with a central opening to non-rigidly receive the upper end of the stick.

Failure of the picker stick is costly because it means lost machine time as well as the cost of replacement of a broken stick and sometimes results in a defect in the cloth. Various types of picker sticks have been made in trying to reduce this failure. Sticks of various materials have been tried but have not replaced wooden sticks because wooden sticks have a resilience and elasticity not found in sticks of other materials. To prevent failure at the upper end, various caps and wear surfaces have been tried but have not proved satisfactory.

In prior U. S. Patent No. 2,419,086, there is described a picker stick having a strip of plastic material inserted in an elongated slot formed in the picker stick between the edges. This reinforced stick resulted in longer life without any serious impairment of the necessary resilience and elasticity of the stick. However, the plastic insert did not extend to the ends of the stick and the problem of failure at these areas, while improved, was not completely solved.

In accordance with the present invention, I have new developed a reinforced wooden picker stick which has the desired elasticity of wooden sticks and which, in addition, provides a longerwearing head for carrying the picker. This stick has a Wooden body reinforced internally by a tough, non-frangible insert, similar to that described in the above patent, but which extends in increased width beyond the upper end of the wooden body to form a picker-bearing portion which is integral with the reinforcing portion and which is much tougher than wood.

The details of the present invention are described hereafter in connection with the accompanying drawings, in which:

/ of the picker stud hole 12, as indicated in Figs.

Fig. 1 is a side elevation of a-picker stick, embodying the present invention;

Fig. 2 is a longitudinal sectional view of the stick shown in Fig. 1, taken generally along line 2--2;

Fig. 3 is a longitudinal sectional View of-another embodiment of the present invention;

Fig. 4 is a side elevation of the embodiment illustrated in Fig. 3; and I Fig. 5 is a transverse section of the picker stick embodying the present invention, taken generally along the line 5-5, as shown in Fig.1.

Referring now in detail to the drawings, the picker stick of the present invention, indicated generally at 8, has a body portion H] of tough, straight-grained wood. Extending from the upper end of the wooden body portion H] to anoint adjacent the picker stud hole l2 and in one embodiment (see Figs. 1 and 2) to the lower endof stick 8, is a longitudinal groove havinga V- shaped upper portion and a lower portion of uniform width. Disposed within this groove with its sides secured to adjacent sides of body I0 is an insert, shown generally. at M, which includes a picker-bearing portion I6, adapted to extend upwardly from the end of the wooden body I0, an intermediate, wedge-like portion l8 adapted to be received in the upper .V-shaped portion of the groove at the end of wooden body I 0, and a lower relatively thin, reinforcing portion 20 adapted to provide reinforcement for wooden body [0 without unduly impairing its elasticity and simultaneously secure picker-bearing portion 18 to the remaining portion of the stick.

If desired, the reinforcing portion 20 may be coextensive with the length of the wooden. body H], as shown in Fig. 2, or it may terminate short 3 and 4. In the latter case, the stick 8 is preferably reinforced at the stud hole H by meanszof rivets 2 -5, or the like, which'are disposed transversely of the stick and which extend between the opposing edges on either side of hole 12. Also, in this embodiment, it is desirable that the reinforcing portion 20 and corresponding groove in body l E! be formed with the lower edge extending diagonally upwardly from the inner edge to the outer edge. This reduces the tendency of the insert M to be dislodged from wooden body portion ill by the force of driving the picker.

While I have found that inserts formed of vulcanized fiber give excellent service, however, I use other resinous or plastic materials which have the necessary toughness and elasticity and which are relatively infrangible. The picker-bearing portion 16, the wedge-like intermediate portion the 18 and the reinforcing strip 20 of the unitary insert l4 may be molded or extruded as a unit or may .be built up of layers of material bonded together by means of a suitable adhesive. In the latter case itniay be desira ble insert a rivet or bolt-2t (see Figs; 3' and 4Y'thi'bdghth'la'rhination's. e

For bonding a vulcanized fiber insert Hi to the wooden body l0, resinous adhesives of the urea-V formaldehyde type have been found to beexcellent. However, other suitable adhesives may be used, the particular chdi'ce'dep'fiding 'bn'the character of the insert.

The upper picker-bearing portion 16 of the picker stick formed in accordance withihe.present invention is considerably tougher arid longer lasting than the commonly available woods. In addition to providing}; means of securing the i'icker tearmg'soruon' i8" to the remainder of the sticlg, the reini'drcingstrip.20rstrengthens fft "wobdn; dy' ill to niiniihize'the tendency to T's'p itwithout impairing the desirable resilience of the stick. In the embodiment illustrated in Figsjfarid 2; the strip 20'tprovides a particularly .efiectiire reihforcement around the picker stud F'hole T2; Tliis-unitaryLstiok is characterized by its simplicity of construction and ruggedness of structure. 1* v .4. e"s'pecific examples or" insertfmaterial, and a iifiesi-if'es' were givn by way bf illustration and Ii btiiifiiitation, "thescopeior the invention being deflfiedlinthappendedclaims.

a; .7 M, in, a; "LFA 'lpicker suck cbmprising. a 'woodenrbody fitifinhforined -withi ant-elongated slot-extendgQdhwrifiafdlyibetwmthe edgesirl'om the .upper-- end or 'saidistikiand a.,nbn=metalli.c ilresiri'ousiihfdicing insert sltripi disposed withinsaid ibt-and'ladhesive1y secured to. the. wooden. sides, Ti sal d'ih's'erthafyin'g an upper ..efid portion ,ofiinijc a's'd thickness xtendingr'upwardly above ithe enetream woodenbody'portion"to form the lg'er-bearih'gportion of said sticln- L '2. KpicEef stick 'havihg a bbdypo'rtidn formed wtcaremrorced with altoughJnh-metallic.in j'srt 'c 'deig'teiisive in width withsaid stickand exlofigitudinally upwardly. .through said r ctum body between ,theiedgesltliereof. from, a lower portion of said stick to aipoint in. spaced Iranian above theierid 'th'ereofysaidinlsert hav- Tin'g 'ari'u'pper' portion. of increased thickness. extending abo'vethe. upper endiotthe woodjportibrieofsaid body adaptedto receive .the. picker. i 13. h pickerstickljcomprising a. wooden body portion 'havifig..a-. s1'ot. .eitending longitudinally TirGm its-fupper' end between the edges thereof. .isaidislot'i hayinglatr its upperenda .veshaped i portion, \a'ndi a reinforcing; member of homogeneous; nonr-fibrous.- inateriaidisposed Within said slot ahdbonded to. the .woodlon either side,, said .ilreirifo'rcing Imemberl extending upwardly above eiidiof said woodenbody. to provide .a' picker- :bearing head of said tough, non-metallic materialv .f 1 i, (L L i rgiliAlpic 'errstickjaccording. to claim 3;, chard'terizedby the'iurther fact'that'the reinforcing material is a hard, non-frangible plastic having sufficient elasticity to prevent breakage.

5. A picker stick, according to claim 3, characterized by the further fact that the reinforcing 5 niaterial is of hard, vulcanized fiber.

5 "E f iffi qfifdi ef'tdl'dfiin f5, ha a aeterized by the" further Tact that the vulcani zed fiber reinforcing material is made up of a plu- "rality of layers of material bonded together and 10 bonded to the wooden body.

'Z A picker: stick comprising a wooden body pcfitiorifliaiyingiajslbt extending longitudinally "'fro'inthe"upifef fend of said body portion to a point short of the picker stud hole, said slot ls be ing iormed at its, upper end with a V-shaped configuration: a 'wear and reinforcing portion of homogeneous,"non-metallic material formed with a lower strip-like portion adapted to be received in the lowferj portion qfisaid-siotijaninterm atei iwedgeelike portionadaptedto, be received i the yfshan drortiomor said slo ia djaniunper p r-s pp ti n rtion ext ndi g. i wardl of said wed e-like. portiona i e. the 'endgoi gseid Ih'o'dy portion. and adapted. to reeeiveia p cke easaid non-metallic inse tb ine adhe iv y bond- .edto the slotted sidewallsfloiisaid hoodenlb dy portion, .to. iormiaiunita y structure; a d a. p of reinforcing .meta icmstudsi, insertedct n .versely; or said wooden body on opposite sides of saidstudholei it i. M, "c

i 3., ,Atpiclser 'stick,,a eord n .io iclai characiterizedibc: the furtherffact that the. lower ed e. ,ofgsaidslotwand. the corre pondin end v. fw ei ins rt a eim med tdislopp diaeona hz. .upw rom die'inner to. thenu er ed es oithesticir.

t, .e-qA p cker st qkhavineia homoee e i s,;n0nmetallic, reinforcing core formed wi than upper lnick ksnnii fing .p rt onfen intermed ate; ta- I opened .nortioirjandia low .'el tiv:e1y thinner- 40 .tioni.saidpinterme ieteiand said.,10wer. por en a i wo den body m mbers adhesive yisecur .itoitheisides th reof, said b dymemhe s extendme frqmfiheil were dioi said stickupward i s id piqkerz unpe tins. p rtion; the e y .f rm 4.: iajunitaryistructure hayinaailowerp rt on of ,rei'iniorced woodand an up r p f m neous, non-metallic material. 7 i

' 101"A Jpiclier' stick, accordingto claim :9; and further characterized in that thereinforcingcore is of la'rhiiiatedI yiulc'anized fiber,';whereini the laminations are disposed edgewise in alignment with'thelwooden body members and are adhesively bondedby means of a urea-formaldehyde "glue.

artist: teens, "sir.

Number Name I;)a t e,

M92 rwfli efi NOV- 1 370,904 RQssignol Nov. 12, 1907 J5 ii e i il fil a1 7, 19, 2,419,086 NOIIiS et a1. Apr. 15, 1947 

